Madison Quarry open Aug 11th/12th

[mike_s]

First off.... YIPPEE!!! :dancingsnoopy:


From http://www.sdiscuba.com/quarry.htm


Madison Quarry Reopens

The Water and Wastewater Board of the City of Madison has once again agreed to allow Bill Rawlins and Wes Hoopengardner to operate the Madison Quarry. The quarry will be open for Dive Shop groups only. There will be no regular business hours at this time. Anyone wishing to dive in the quarry will need to sign up with our group on the dates we will be there. We are currently scheduled to be there the weekend of August 11 & 12. We will be posting additional dates on this page as soon as we confirm them. Please check back.

The procedure for diving the quarry will be the same as last year. You will need to come by SDI on Friday or Saturday, the day before you wish to dive, and sign a liability release and pay the entrance fee. The entrance fee is $20 per person per day. The entrance fee is payable in CASH ONLY. The quarry gate will open at 8 am. Please plan on arriving shortly before 8 am. Once everyone has entered the property the gate will be closed and not reopened until lunch time. You may leave and return after lunch or leave for the day. You may also enter at lunch time if you only wish to dive in the afternoon. Please be at the gate at 12 noon. Once diving has wrapped up for the day, usually around 4 pm, everyone will need to leave the quarry. We will be planning a few days for night dives as we have demand for them. Dates for night dives will be posted here at a later date.

If you live outside the Huntsville/Madison area you may download the liability release by clicking the link below. Print it out and date it for the date you wish to dive. A new release is required for each day of diving. Bring the release and entrance fee with you to the quarry. You may turn in the release and pay your fee when you arrive. You will need to check in with the person on duty before diving.

We hope to have as many people as possible fill out paperwork and pay at SDI beforehand. The more paperwork we have to deal with at the gate on the morning of the dives, the longer it will take to have everyone enter the quarry. Please help us be efficient by taking care of the paperwork in advance.

The water level in the quarry is returning to near normal levels. It appears to be about 5 feet below normal level as of August 8, 2007. The docks are still NOT usable. Please stay off of them.

There will be NO services available at the quarry. Plan accordingly. There are no air fills or equipment rentals at the quarry. Bring everything you will need to dive and be comfortable.

Call SDI at 256-536-8404 if you need more information.


(you can download liability release at above URL at bottom of page).

 

[mike_s]

Looks like several of us are going out Sunday morning if you want to go.

Be there at 8am or before and bring entrance fee and liability form from above website.

 

[mike_s]

Well I hit Madison Quarry today as it was the weekend this year it was open.

ScubaLuke, Rocketman and I were supposed to be there, but they couldn't make it at the last minute due to other concerns.

The water is up maybe about 5 feet from last year, but is still down about 5 to 8 feet from the days that it was Rock Divers. The only thing that made a difference in this is that you couldn't enter via the docks due to the ramp being too steep to walk up if wet and in scuba gear. So entry was made via the roadbed like last year. But they've added a dock to it also which will help give students a place to gear up without having to do it on the uneven slope.

The lower water level also meant that there wasn't a thermocline. So bottom temps were at 83f to 84f. I dove it in a shorty and was fine. The bottom 5 feet or so though did have a colder layer of water, but not enough to call it a big thermocline. It did affect the vis some. The vis on the bottom wa about 10 feet on average with being better and worse in a few spots. Above the bottom layer, vis was more in the 20-30 foot range.

So all in all, it was a pretty good day diving.

They hope to be open again in mid September with some other dates hopefully before. There is talk of doing one day as a late entrance day with a night dive.

-mike

 

[dford]

Glad to hear its back open .Looking foward to diving the quarry since its so close to home.

 

[philmottrek99and02]

Mike,
Thanks for the report. I'll be diving it when a) I get home and don't have to worry about jumping back on a plane within a day!
Howard